WOOD SMOKE

I live here in Lefty Greater Boston. Few places in America are as obsessed with environmentalism and social justice. Roughly one third of our population is under 30. 

My adjacent suburb of Boston is affluent, though I am not personally by most measures. I live on the trashy side of the city, the former industrial zone. But even here, people are living the good American life. 

Winter tells me a lot about the real environmental attitudes of my P.C. neighbors. The occasional unshoveled sidewalk after a deep snow or ice storm, for example. Huge SUVs, loud motorcycles and loud trucks race up and down my street around the clock. Paper and fast food are frequently dumped onto the street from car windows. Dog owners may or may not clean up after their charges. Commercial vehicles are left idling for long periods without anyone in them. 

The wasteful American ways are still in full play here, despite all the whining and hand-wringing about the environment. 

The most irksome example of environmental hypocrisy here in this suburb of 19th century houses is the pervasive presence of choking wood smoke on any cold day. It is inescapable. Local food outlets and hardware stores sell firewood and paraffin-infused sawdust logs. Obviously, our green local government officials are in on this dirty habit. 

The particulates in wood smoke are as harmful as those in diesel exhaust and more plentiful. Wood smoke emits more carbon dioxide per gram of wood burned than many other fuels. And, to make the hideous nature of this pollutant more glaring, wood fires in modern America are simply ornamental and used in conjunction with other more efficient home heating/cooking methods.

The bottom line is this: Anyone without their own meticulously maintained woodlot (or coppice) who claims to be concerned about the environment and burns a wood fire for its charm or its heat efficiency is a hypocrite.